


Denied

by InfraVioletUltraRed



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Crack, I have never felt more Catholic Shame than I do now, Other, can't spell Chell without Hell!, this is a joke, which is where I'm going
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 06:05:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16011821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InfraVioletUltraRed/pseuds/InfraVioletUltraRed
Summary: Chell has a little (slightly sadistic) fun with the fact that completed tests give Wheatley that euphoria response.





	Denied

**Author's Note:**

> This is short because it's not the most fully-fleshed idea I've ever had, but hopefully it's as entertaining to you as it has been for me every time it crosses my mind.

Well, if Chell had to do this test, she was at least going to have some fun with it. 

The test itself wasn't hard, just dropping from level to level in a single Excursion Funnel to reach the button waiting for her, the light at the end of the funnel, so to speak. So it wasn't hard in the slightest, for her. But she was going to make it hard for Wheatley. 

It wasn't quite revenge, and it wasn't quite any other emotionally-motivated reaction to anything he'd done. It was just an immediate outlet of her frustration with the constant testing, the lack of sunlight, the same turrets and cubes and recycled air. Maybe she was stir-crazy now. Maybe being in the metaphorical basement, where there was asbestos and moon dust and not even the possibility of deer had snapped something in her.

But her high tenacity should have prevented that, right? 

How long had it been since she'd woken up in the dark Relaxation Chamber? She couldn't know, what with the adrenal vapor and constant light. 

Literal lab rats were treated better than this. 

Either way, this action was a reaction, but neither immediate nor really equal.

There was the button. She reached out her hand for it, flexing her fingers as if she would slam her palm down upon it. And then, just before the eminences of her fingers hit the button, as Wheatley gasped, ready to voice his utter pleasure at her triumph over another chamber, she stopped. 

She even held her breath for a second too, holding it in her chest and her hand hung so close to the button their atoms may well have touched already. 

Wheatley was silent, until he wasn't.

"WHAT are you doing? You KNOW to push the button! Come on, you've proven you beat the test, let's go!"

Chell grinned, dipping one finger to the button's center, drawing a spiral on the whole of the button while applying no pressure. She hummed a little. Or at least, it felt like she hummed. She hoped she was humming. She curled her finger under the button's edge, swirling around it. Her expression didn't change, except maybe a glint came to her eye. 

"Come ON!" he goaded.

She wasn't going to budge, then. She ghosted her fingers over the button, almost pressing-- in fact, applying enough pressure to be noted, but not enough to depress the button and unlock the door.

She was aware the longer she played this game, the longer she had to stay in the chamber. She'd spent as long as she could remember in the chambers, what was a few minutes, maybe an hour more?

Nothing to her. Annoyingly everything to Wheatley, who she had suddenly at the mercy of her fingertips. 

She could see him, there on the screen. He could see her, through the myriad cameras around the chamber. So she lifted her fingers off the button and bent each in turn, a slow wave. 

"I take back what I said about humans!" Wheatley cried. "None of you smell, the folklore comment was in bad taste, you're all smart, please, just finish the test."

Chell cocked her head, smile growing. She could. But she didn't have to. Who was going to make her?

A voice came over the speakers. Oh, right. The core was on the brink of a meltdown. Well, mutually assured destruction, then. 

But... she'd rather not. 

She shrugged, slowly pushing down the button until the door clicked, and Wheatley sighed.

"Anti-climactic, wasn't that?" He asked as she entered the elevator. "What do you think you were going to prove?"

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry, but every time I play "The Itch," this pops into my head.   
> I'd also like to thank one of my best friends, Kerri, for laughing when I told her about this idea almost a year ago, so I had the guts to post it now. Also I'm not backing this up on my computer, so if something goes wrong, it'll be gone forever.


End file.
